Biography:

Prof. Guhl is a full Professor at the University of los Andes, Faculty of Sciences, Bogot, (Colombia). He is the director of the Tropical Diseases research Centre - Centro de investigaciones en microbiologia y parasitologia tropical (CIMPAT) - Universidad de los Andes - Bogot, (Colombia). Moreover, he is the editor in chief Acta Tropica (Elsevier)

Areas of professional activity Chagas Disease:

Triatomine insect vectors molecular aspects, biology, control programmes.
Trypanosoma cruzi, molecular aspects, transmission and characterization.
Research collaboration with Latinamerican countries.

Key publications

Ramrez CJ, Jaramillo CA, Delgado MP, Pinto NA, Aguilera G and Guhl F. 2005. Genetic structure of sylvatic, peridomestic and domestic populations of Triatoma dimidiata (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from an endemic zone of Boyac, Colombia. Acta Tropica 93(2005) 24-29 [PubMed 15589794]

Urrea DA, Carranza JC, Cuba CA, Gurgel-Goncalves R, Guhl F, Schofield CJ, Triana O, Vallejo GA. 2005. Molecular characterisation of Trypanosoma rangeli strains isolated from Rhodnius ecuadoriensis in Peru, R. colombiensis in Colombia and R. pallescens in Panama, supports a co-evolutionary association between parasites and vectors. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 5(2):123-129. [PubMed 15639744]

Guhl,F., Restrepo,M., Angulo,V.M., Antunes,C.M., Campbell-Lendrum,D. and Davies,C. 2005. Lessons from a national survey of Chagas disease transmission risk in Colombia. Trends in Parasitology. Vol 21 No.6 June 2005 pp.259-262. [PubMed 15922243]

Vargas E, Espitia C, Patio C, Pinto N, Aguilera G, Jaramillo C, Bargues MD , and Guhl F. 2006. Genetic structure of Triatoma venosa (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): molecular and morphometric evidence. Memrias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ro de Janeiro, Vol 101(1): 39-45 [PubMed 16699708]

D.H. Campbell-Lendrum, V.M. Angulo, L. Esteban, Z. Tarazona, G.J. Parra, M. Restrepo, B.N: Restrepo, F. Guhl, R. Montoya, N. Pinto, G. Aguilera, P. Wilkinson, C.R. Davies. 2007 House-level risk for triatomine infestation in Colombia. International Journal of Epidemiology. 36: 866-872. [PubMed 17698884]

Guhl F, Aguilera G, Pinto N, Vergara D . 2007. Actualizacin de la distribucin geogrfica y ecoepidemiologa de la fauna de triatominos (Reduviidae: Triatominae) en Colombia. Biomdica 2007; 27(Supl. 1): 143-62. [PubMed 18154255]

Herrera C, Bargues MD, Fajardo A, Montilla M, Triana O, Vallejo GA and Guhl F. 2007. Identifying four Trypanosoma cruzi I isolate haplotypes from different geographic regions in Colombia. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 7 :535-539. [PubMed 17287152]

Guhl F. 2007. Chagas disease in Andean countries. Memrias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ro de Janeiro, Vol 102(Suppl. 1) 1-9 [PubMed 17891273]

Marianela Castillo-Riquelme, Zaid Chalabi, Felipe Guhl, Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Clive Davies, Julia Fox-Rushby. M. 2008. Modelling geographic variation in the cost effectiveness of control policies for infectious vector diseases: The example of Chagas Disease. Journal of Health Economics 27:405-426. [PubMed 18222556]

Bargues M.D., Klisiowicz D.R., Gonzalez-Candelas F., Ramsey J., Monroy C., Ponce C., Salazar-Schettino P.M., Panzera F., Abad-Franch F., Sousa O.E., Schofield CJ., Dujardin J.P., Guhl F. & Mas-Coma S., 2008. Phylogeography and genetic variation of Triatoma dimidiata, the main Chagas disease vector in Central America, and its position within the genus Triatoma. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2),5: e233. [PubMed 18461141]

Abstract:

Trypanosoma cruzi Evolutionary Trends: Any relation to Darwins illness?

American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) is a complex zoonosis, endemic to the American continent. The causative parasite - Trypanosoma cruzi is known to infect over 150 species of mammal, and is one of the primary causes of cardiomyopathy in humans. In the Americas, T.cruzi is mainly transmitted by large blood-sucking reduviid bugs of the subfamily Triatominae, sometimes also known as kissing bugs. There is undoubted interest in academic research on the Triatominae, especially as models for understanding fundamental evolutionary processes. It is assumed that human Chagas disease arose by chance when humans came into contact with the natural foci, causing an ecological imbalance and allowing infected triatomine bugs to enter and colonise human dwellings. In this way, humans became key participants in the epidemiology of Chagas disease, although the true scale of the disease is difficult to assess because chronic stage symptoms may develop only several years after the initial infection. The parasite populations also show interactions with the different insect vector species and the transmission patterns are related to coevolutionary processes, determining the epidemiology of human-infecting trypanosomes in Latin America. Darwin records being bitten by one of the most relevant triatomine insect vector Triatoma infestans while in the Andes in Mendoza, Argentina. The most widely quoted explanation about Darwins illness is the chronic parasitic infection Chagas disease initially proposed by Israeli physician Saul Adler. The bottom line remains that, in the absence of physical evidence, which only a molecular examination of Darwins remains could remedy, we will never know for sure.